Formulation of trans-free and low saturated margarine

Author(s):
MISKANDAR Mat Sahri* ; NOOR LIDA HABI Mat Dian*

Palm stearin (POs) is a good choice for trans-free hard stock. POs with various iodine values (IV) have distinct solid fat content (SFC) profiles useful in soft margarine formulation. Palm kernel oil (PKO) maintains the margarine with high consistency at low temperatures, but the margarine is soft at serving temperature. The study revealed that formulation work either using bulk oils and fats (sample 900), interesterified hard stock (sample 905) and simple blend of hydrogenated fat and soft oil (904) can achieve similar fatty acid composition, but not the same SFC profile. Sample 905 contains palm-based hard stock from an interesterified product of a fully hydrogenated POs (IV=0) and PKO blended with sunflower oil (SFO) containing 36.1% total saturated fatty acids. Margarine sample 1089 is trans-free and has a low saturated fat formulation. Despite its low saturated (17.8%) and polyunsaturated fatty acid (9%) content, its high monounsaturated fatty acid (73%) content stabilizes the crystal development during storage at 5°C, 10°C and 15°C for 25 days with no significant post-crystallization. POs is an excellent hard stock for formulating trans-free margarine with low saturated fat content.